Learn how to create a super cute DIY dachshund magnet for your fridge! This adorable magnet is great for displaying your children’s drawings or photos on the refrigerator. Or, use this little guy to keep coupons or recipes handy and within easy reach!

DIY Dachshund Magnet Tutorial

What You’ll Need:

What to Do:

Begin by kneading the polymer clay until it’s soft and pliable. Then press the clay firmly into one of the cavities of your dachshund mold.

Allow the clay in the mold to “firm” back up for about ten to fifteen minutes, then carefully remove the polymer clay from the mold cavity.

Once you’ve removed the dachshund shaped clay from the mold, use a small amount of clay to form an ear for your dachshund. To do this, first knead the clay until soft and pliable. Then create a teardrop shape with the clay.

Press the clay onto the dachshund where his ear would be and gently shape it to look like an ear. Smooth the clay out around the base of the ear so it stays attached to the body, and press your finger into the “drop” of the teardrop shaped clay to flatten out the ear.

Now place the clay dachshund on a baking sheet in a 275°F oven for 15 minutes.

Once you’ve baked the clay, remove it from the oven and allow to cool.

Use craft paints to paint your clay dachshund as desired once the clay has cooled. I used a combination of colors so my DIY dachshund magnet would look like my own dapple colored miniature dachshund.

When the paint has fully dried, spray the magnet with a clear acrylic sealer. Allow the sealer to dry.

Now flip your clay dachshund over and adhere two magnets to his back using E6000 glue.

Once the glue dries, your dachshund magnet is ready to be displayed on your fridge or any other metal surface that your heart desires!

Learn how to make a DIY cactus ring holder! Made using polymer clay, this easy cactus ring holder offers a safe place to stash your rings! Molded onto the top of a decorative jar lid, this DIY cactus ring holder has space to stash your rings both inside the jar and out!

You’ll be using the same fun cactus silicone mold for this project that I used to create my DIY cactus soaps with eco-friendly biodegradable glitter.

I hope you have as much fun with this project as I did! I think this cactus ring holder would not only make a cute home decor accent piece in your own home, but it’s also perfect for gift giving!

What You’ll Need:

What to Do:

Begin by kneading the polymer clay until it’s soft and pliable. Then press the clay into one of the cavities of your cactus silicone mold.

Clean any excess from the top of the clay in the mold.

Then carefully remove the polymer clay from the mold cavity. If you have trouble removing the clay cactus, set the clay aside for a bit to allow it to firm back up a bit before trying to remove it from the mold.

Now, using additional clay, cover the top of the metal lid to your jar. Try to keep the clay on top of the jar lid about the same thickness as your clay cactus.

Once covered, scoop out a small hole in the center of the clay on the jar lid that the base of your clay cactus will fit into. Place the clay cactus into the hole on top of the lid and use your fingers or a utensil to move the clay to hold the cactus in place. The clay covering the jar lid and the cactus on top should become one piece.

Leaving the clay attached to the jar lid, bake the lid and clay together in a 275°F oven for about 30 minutes on a baking sheet. Then remove the cactus lid from the oven and allow it to cool.

Once the cactus lid has cooled, use craft paints to paint the cactus and base as desired.

When the paint on your cactus dries, spray it with a clear acrylic sealer to protect it.

Now all that’s left is to fill the inside of your jar with rings or knick knacks and screw on the lid! You can also place additional rings on the arms of cactus! And that’s it!

I hope you enjoyed my project for making a DIY cactus ring holder. I know it’s not soap, but it does give you another fun use for your silicone molds!

If you enjoyed my DIY cactus ring holder project, I hope you’ll also check out my DIY cactus soaps! This fun soapmaking tutorial will walk you through creating your own colorful, glittery cactus soaps using a melt and pour soap base!

This past week I’ve been busy brainstorming like made for new bath and body recipes and I’m so excited to get started on my new to do list! Some of the projects I plan to share will also be a part of what I’ve coined my Craft & Cocktail Nights that I’ll be having about every other week with my friends. The first one is tonight and we’ll be making DIY nail polishes using a suspension nail polish base, micas and glitters.

In actuality, since I moved back to Roanoke and am once again in close proximity of some of my favorite and true blue friends, I kind of have a craft & cocktail night anyway about once a week with someone near and dear.

Those projects, however, are typically one on one on a night there are no kids and my husband has his weekly band practice. I often use those nights for experimenting like mad. Sometimes those creations make it to the blog. Other times they don’t.

This past Thursday my husband’s band, Virginia Electric, actually had a gig so we skipped the weekly craft shindig for music. I headed out to hear my husband’s band play and my friend Bambi hit a local venue to hear her friend’s band. The Thursday before however, we tried two new fab red wines and painted birdhouses.

It was ridiculously enjoyable. We did get a little crazy though when I thought it’d be a marvelous idea to paint the kitchen tabletop. (If you follow me on instagram it’s likely you’ve already seen that disaster.)

We sort of got WAY into it and the whole incident became a “blow off steam/sensory play” experience. It was quite fun and I recommend everyone do it at least once in their lives – but definitely do it outside.

The tabletop ended up looking like a smear of mud so in the end, I cleaned off the tabletop – leaving only a few streaks of glitter behind that didn’t come off – and slaved a bit over the kitchen clean up. We had started by splattering paint and squirting it onto the table so by the end of the night there was paint on the floor and the walls and randomly in the strangest of places.

My husband was rightfully a bit miffed. It was quite the disaster to walk in on. And he walked in as I was attempting to mop the kitchen floor – a feat that only made the floor look worse. Think a film of a mud like colored substance everywhere the mop had been. So I got down and dirty with towels and kitchen cleaner and pretty much scrubbed the kitchen floor on my hands and knees along with the table, chairs, walls and even the sides of the cabinets. Thus, should you ever repeat this exercise in complete lack of self control, I highly recommend you take it outside.

The next day there were muddy paint footprints I scrubbed off the wood floor – along with Bambi who had her own footprints she took home with her.

Still, there were and are no regrets because it was the most amazing time! And luckily, having spent quite a few years raising two daughters, my husband was a lot more understanding than I would have been had I walked in on the same disastrous aftermath.

If you want to paint your own birdhouses, this is actually a great project for the family if you skip the cocktail part of it. You can find the birdhouses online at Target.com here. (I hadn’t seen these at my local Target, but they also tend to sell out of crafty supplies and materials there rather quickly.)

Some other wonderful things I’ve enjoyed this week include this beautiful handmade soap from Lavish Clean Intentions. It’s scented with spearmint and eucalyptus and is one of my favorite handmade soaps shared using the hashtag #soapdelishowoff on instagram this week.

I’ve also found a new favorite white wine – Three Thieves 2015 Pinot Grigio. It’s a steal at $10 a bottle and of course, there’s an additional dollar off per bottle when I buy six at Kroger!

As there’s always a question about using preservatives in homemade skin care products, a great article I recently rediscovered and pinned to my DIY Bath and Body Pinterest board is this one from Soap Queen blog. It will help you answer the question as to whether or not your homemade product needs a preservative. And if so, what is the best preservative to use for your product type.

I’m also in love with the Pork Dumplings Recipe from HelloFresh. This is the second time I’ve ordered this meal with my box as it’s so amazing! I’m cooking this for dinner tonight pre-party. If you’re not a HelloFresh subscriber you can sign up here and get $40 off your first order.

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend and that you all have a super creative inspiring week next week! See you then!

Learn how to create your own DIY geometric glass terrarium filled with faux plants! This easy tutorial will walk you through the steps to creating your own unique terrarium arrangement for your next home accent piece – all without the worry of watering and maintaining your plants.

I’ve been wanting to create my own faux terrarium for some time as I have a particularly poor green thumb. I’ve been known to overwater succulents and underwater houseplants so I tend to stick to throwing wildflower seeds about outside when it comes to planting.

I also wanted a terrarium for a rather dim room in my home which never seems to work out in my favor. So rather than buy a live terrarium I decided to create my own custom DIY geometric glass terrarium using rocks, orchid bark, preserved moss and fake flowers.

I kind of winged this project as I’d never tried creating a terrarium using fake plants with no dirt to root them into. But I ended up being pleased with how pretty my DIY geometric glass terrarium turned out in the end.

Ready to dive in and make your own beautiful terrarium that never dies? Keep reading to learn how. However, keep in mind that this is YOUR project. So be sure to try materials and preserved plants that speak to you and fit your own personal creative taste!

Directions:

Once you’ve shopped for and gathered your materials you’re ready to get started!

You should be able to find most if not all of the elements needed for your DIY geometric glass terrarium at your local craft store in the floral section. If this option isn’t available to you, you can easily find the items you need online.

You’ll begin by cutting down your block of green floral foam. (I used a wet foam block as this worked better for my purpose.) Cut the block so it’s about a half an inch high. Then cut the edges into a shape that fits inside of your geometric glass terrarium.

You can do this by placing the terrarium on top of the foam block and tracing a line around it. Then using a knife cut the block slightly smaller than the opening in your terrarium. You want it small enough that you can get the foam block into the terrarium after you’ve glued the elements onto the top and sides.

Now spread glue across the top of the floral foam.

Once you have the glue in place, tear off a section of the moss and gently press it onto the foam.

Clip smaller sections of flowers or buds from the faux flower stem you’ve chosen to use and position them around and in between the moss, pressing the stems into the floral foam to keep them in place.

Follow this some of the orchid bark, gluing it onto the floral foam as desired. Then, repeat this process with more moss, flowers and bark on the top and sides of the floral foam to suit using more glue as needed.

Repeat until the entire foam block is covered.

If desired you can also glue rocks as well to the top of the arrangement.

Once you are satisfied with the arrangement, allow the glue to dry.

Once the glue on the arrangement for your DIY geometric glass terrarium has dried, place some glue on the bottom of the terrarium. Then carefully place the floral and moss arrangement inside the terrarium on top of the glue, gently pressing it into place.

Finally, add a mix of orchid bark and rocks around the arrangement in the bottom of the terrarium to surround the foam block with your moss and floral arrangement. Use a skewer or a chopstick to move rocks and bark into empty spaces and desired locations.

Use glass cleaner and a clean cloth to clean up any fingerprints, debris or glue that may have gotten onto the glass of your terrarium. And that’s it! Your DIY geometric glass terrarium is complete!

Now all that’s left is to display your new geometric glass terrarium in you home!

These faux terrariums make lovely accent pieces for bookshelves and coffee tables with no need to worry about lighting!

How to Throw a Unicorn Party!

Whether you’re planning a unicorn party for a child or simply a crazy fun cocktail party for adults, here’s how to throw a unicorn party that everyone will love!

My friend Cathy and I have birthdays just three days apart. Cathy really wanted to have a birthday party for our 42nd birthdays. So I threw her a unicorn party! While unicorn cakes and other crazy rainbow colored desserts are fab, we got back in touch with our inner child a bit for this birthday and instead painted paper mache unicorns!

Following are some of the photographs from our unicorn birthday party as well as a tutorial on hacking mini party hats into unicorn party hats, what you’ll need to paint your own unicorns, a pitcher margarita recipe (Cathy LOVES margaritas!) and ideas for unicorn party favors.

DIY Unicorn Party Hats

I placed all of the hats onto cardboard outside and sprayed each one a solid color with the spray paint. I painted four purple hats, four black hats and four blue hats.

After painting each color I threw/tossed/sprinkled different glitters into the wet paint.

I then went back and painted “highlights” of other colors onto each hat in a strip or along one side. So, for example, a black hat got sprayed with purple paint and a purple hat with black and/or blue.

I then threw/tossed/sprinkled additional glitter into the freshly spray wet paint.

Once that paint dried, I sprayed each unicorn party hat with a clear acrylic sealer to reduce glitter fall out.

Then I completed the hats by sticking the “pineapple” green tops into each hat. This step of course is optional.

All in all these unicorn party hats took no time to paint and decorate as there was no glue involved. (This is Cathy! She’s AMAZING!)

For the unicorn party I set up a “Pick Your Party Hat” station complete with stickers to decorate the hats if desired.

Paint your own unicorns!

When you’re turning 42 your birthday gifts are your friends and the many blessings you’ve accumulated throughout your life rather than physical gifts. So my gift to my friends for celebrating my life with me – and Cathy! – were these fun paper mache unicorns we all got to paint!

I picked up these paper mache unicorns from Target – one for every guest – and an assortment of paints, brushes and 0f course, glitter! I went a little crazy with Target’s Kid Made Modern line.